All for sports!

During Precision Soccer Camp this July the campers were treated to a visit from Cat Reddick Whitehill who is a Boston Breakers player and former US National Soccer Team defender.

Cat Reddick Whitehill and a camper

Cat shared her story of spending hours touching a soccer ball, strength training, and running many fitness tests to get to this high level of play. As she shared her memories and her tips for success our campers listened intently.Then, she took out her gold medal from the 2004 Athens Games. Cat graciously shared her prize possession with 80 campers and 15 staffers who all really felt the significance of the medal when they held it in their hands. The campers were motivated! They may never get a chance to earn their own gold medal but they were empowered by her medal. These campers tasted success through Cat’s narrative of her soccer career.
We may not all get to meet a gold medalist but we can be captured by the stories that these Olympic athletes will share with us over the next few weeks. Parents spend time with your children asking them questions. What would they do if they won a gold medal? How much time do they think they need to spend playing soccer to get to Olympic level play? Which team best represents the ideals of the Olympic Games?

Children should not only be interested in the Olympic Games, they should find teams and athletes they can cheer for as the results begin to be revealed. It is not only fun to cheer on teams, it becomes an opportunity for children to learn more about the struggles and challenges athletes may deal with. Then our children can find some connection perhaps with the obstacles or worries they may also have in their own lives. We may look at these Olympians as perfect athletes, which they are, but they are also just down to earth humans who have to balance their own trials with being the very best at their sport.

Cat Reddick Whitehill gave a special gift to my campers with her engaging talk and now they can all say they have held a gold medal!